ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

Evensong, Last Sunday after Trinity Year A

Fr Ivan Aquilina

The city of Ephesus was the major city of the Roman Empire in proconsular Asia. At the time of S Paul it had 250,000 inhabitants and boasted of the great temple of Artemis one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Some say that the Blessed Virgin and St John the Divine took refuge in this city. Later on it was to be the city to hold the council that bears its name in which Our Lady was defined as Mother of God.

The church in Ephesus was founded by S. Paul. He spoke in the synagogue for three months and then in the lecture hall of Tyrannus for 2 years. A disturbance arose because of the fertility goddess Artemis who brought the Ephesians wealth by making silver images of her. The Ephesians were afraid that through Paul's preaching they would loose business. When Paul left Ephesus, Timothy became its Bishop.

Our second lesson tonight comes from the Pastoral Epistles written one to Titus who was Bishop of Crete and two to Timothy, the Bishop of Ephesus. From the letters to Timothy we gather that the Ephesians were a mature Church.

Tonight we look at the second letter to Timothy which seems to have been originally written by Paul from Rome and sent to Ephesus. This might have been the last known written work of Paul.

While First Timothy is addressed to the leaders of the Church in Ephesus, Second Timothy is a personal letter to Timothy as bishop. It comes from that period of transition from the Apostolic Church to the Church of the first generation Christians. It gives a snapshot of that era.

In this letter Paul comes across as a very tired prisoner. He is on his own. Later on in this letter he says that all have left him except Luke.

Paul hesitates as to the future of the Gospel, there is so much opposition, and the community of faith is still so young and vulnerable. He gives practical advice to Timothy and asks him to watch out for trouble makers especially Alexander the coppersmith from without the Church and Hymenaeus and Philetus from within.

From without, the Church in Ephesus was a sign of contradiction against the temple of Artemis and those who prospered from the pilgrims and idol selling. From within, some Christians had different views about doctrinal issues especially the resurrection of the dead, tension in Church existed since the word go. Paul instructs Timothy not to give in, the disciples can be in chains but God never is, in the face of all this trouble one is to trust God. Like in our times the early Church had problems: their response was to trust God.

It is in this context that our short second reading fits in. What we have read is considered as part of the main section of this letter. Aware of all the troubles he faces Paul starts by asking Timothy to remain strong. Strength is not to be found in Timothy’s inner being but it comes as a gift from Christ.

For the spreading of the Gospel Paul gives advice on Church order. He asks Timothy to appoint faithful ministers to preach the Word urgently in season and out of season. In this early Church it is already the Bishop who has the right and duty to appoint faithful ministers. This demonstrates that in the face of trouble the Church is not to lament but with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit is to be pro active and continue to carry out the mission.

Relying only on ministers is not good enough; on our day of Baptism all of us have received the mandate of spreading the Good News. We are called to be good soldiers of Christ.
For this reason S Paul gives us three life examples for encouragement:
S Paul says that a good soldier focuses on what matters and not on other things even if they be harmless. Focusing on the task is a sign of a good soldier. Likewise S Paul advocates singleness of mind in the service of Christ so that as he says we can always be steady, endure suffering and fulfil our ministry.

The second example comes from the world of sports. An athlete does not win only on achievement of the task but he needs to achieve the task following a set of rules. So keeping the commands of Christ in self-discipline is what Paul suggests to us here.

Finally Paul says that the hard working farmer deserves the first fruits, and so will the hard working disciple receive from Christ the first fruits of Redemption.

The last verse exhorts us to think about these truths as the Lord Himself will grant us understanding. So our task is to think about the need of gaining strength from Christ; about the blessing of Church Order; about the joyful authority of its ministers, about the reality of hostility and the focusing on Christ; the observance of his commands and the hard work we need to put in it. God will grant us the understanding and give us the grace to fight the good fight, to finish the race, to keep the faith.